Less pollution, 20% less costs on railways and, last but not least, less accidents on roads, these are only few of the intermodal transport advantages (road, railway, naval combined transport) enumerated by Ştefan Roşeanu, Secretary General of the Romanian Railway Industry Association (AIF). Unfortunately, our country is still very far away from this segment the European Union calls “transport of the future”. Statistics show that the share of local intermodal transport doesn’t exceed few percentages, while, in high industrialized countries, such as England, France or Germany, it is close to 40%. It is no wonder, if we think about the fact that CFR Marfa holds 26 terminals for intermodal transport, half of which are out of use. And the intention of officials from the Transport Ministry to upgrade these terminals in order to attract private investors, as they used to declare last year, had no material results. The good news is that there are private investments in this field as well.
One of these private initiatives comes from Belgian group Alinso, developer of Ploiesti West Park. The group’s representatives have recently announced the launch of Euro Gate Ploiesti, a project that joins the other private initiatives concerning the reconstruction of industrial platforms and their transformation into intermodal terminals. According to Ivan Lokere, CEO Alinso Group, the region has not been selected randomly: near “the most important road, DN 72” that links Ploiesti to Targoviste, and very close to the A3 highway access, at the same time, being “an important knot” for national rail lines. “Euro Gate Terminal is located in the middle of an important industrial and economic area, which means it will have both road and railway connections”, Lokere says.
His affirmations are confirmed by Ştefan Roşeanu, who stresses the railway strategic importance of Ploiesti, a city located at the junction of pan-European corridors IV and IX and only 100 km away from the pan-European Corridor VII. “The railways could be optimally used in transport operations and can play the role of a base plate between Constanta seaport and Ploiesti region”, he explains.
But what does this project mean from the point of view of technology and investments? This time we are talking about a 10ha surface and three 2.2-km railway lines. Moreover, total investments will amount to EUR 7 Million and the project will have five phases. The first phase, which also includes the 440-m railway line requiring total investments worth EUR 2 Million, has the closest deadline – December 2010, followed by the second phase – March 2011. The other three phases will be carried out over the next few years, until the spring of 2014. The facilities of the terminal include video survey systems, a freight container station, a container overhaul station, a fuel station, parkings for trucks and automotive vehicles and, last but not least, the customs point.
Augustin Hagiu, President of the Federation of Transport Operators, believes that, in the future, this terminal that links the region of Moldavia to the south of the country is very important, especially since it could serve as example for investors interested in intermodal transport. “In five-years time, it is possible to witness new terminal projects, built in other regions of the country, if we think that Romania is many steps behind other countries when we are talking about this type of transport”, Hagiu says. But in this situation, the highest amounts of money, tens of millions of euros, must be supported from the state budget. “The current situation of the Romanian railway infrastructure could be changed to the better by allocating more funds from the state budget and prioritizing infrastructure projects. We believe the situation will improve over the next few years”, Ivan Lokere says.
In fact, Ştefan Roşeanu from AIF, also believes the infrastructure reconstruction in Ploiesti – Bucharest– Constanta region will permit, in the near future, higher traffic speeds and train punctuality, mandatory conditions in attracting container traffic and higher added value goods.
by Ionela Micu
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